Question Plz

[xifeng]

A question for y'all.

Does anyone have asthma? If yes, would you mind telling me a little about it and/or pointing me to some links or books? I'm doing some research for a character who has "something wrong with his lungs", and since I never defined exactly what was wrong with his lungs, I'm trying to refine him now. Given that he's being shoved in the direction of an 1890s setting, TB is a given, but I'm not interested in piling on the wangst or giving him something that would HAVE to be a death sentence given the time period; I'm looking more for something that can act up when he's under a lot of pressure and will be more of a pain in the ass than OMG TEH D00MZ0RZ.

(Of course, I realize that asthma now can be OMG TEH D00MZ0RZ if not properly recognized or treated, and in the late 19th century, an era without inhalers or the scientific and medical knowledge we have today, it was certainly liable to be more of OMG TEH D00MZ0RZ. My point, however, is that I'm looking for a respiratory disease or disorder that may make it difficult for him to live at times, but won't necessarily be a wangstbunny alert or an OMG SO TWAJYCKE thing.)

Thanks! ♥

Comments

[ziggy-prime.livejournal.com]

I had asthma as a youth. Can I help?

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

If you'd be so good. I never had a respiratory condition (besides a brief bout with bronchitis when I was about 8 or 9), so I'm kind of clutching at straws here.

+ What did an attack feel like (if you were prone to them)? Did they vary in intensity, or were they pretty much all the same?
+ Were you able to breathe normally the rest of the time, or did the asthma impair you even when you weren't having an attack?
+ Were there particular stressors (physical, psychological, or both) that brought on or exaggerated an attack?

More to follow, probably, as I think of them.

[ziggy-prime.livejournal.com]

1. Mine weren't exactly attacks... I would describe them such: Your chest burns and you can barely breathe. You gulp for air but it feels like cold fire.
2. Well, theorhetically I should have been able to, but I also had upper resperatory problems, so it was never "normal"
3. Temperature and moisture. Dust.

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

I feel your dust!pain. Every fall and every spring, like clockwork, it gets me where I live.

This was very helpful, actually. Thanks!

[duokinneas.livejournal.com]

I lost my childhood asthma, thank God. The only traces left are being unable to run safely or work out strenuously. I have never breathed well, but the asthma is zippo. So don't go with me - go with somebody who has more real asthma symptoms, like actual attacks and worse effects under stress and mounting pressure.

I wish I could help you, Lee.

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

It is in my family, but unlike many fat kids, I never had it. (I wasn't actually fat until I was about 16.) I did, however, have friends who got out of running by faking an attack.

I'm a lazy sod who expects everyone to do my research for me, silly flufflet. ♥

[sailorsaturn.livejournal.com]

Not uninterested in the slightest, but I never had asthma. O.o

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Ah, so you're in the 10% minority. I'll keep that in mind the next time I'm on about my rich fantasy life. ^_-

Hope you're doing okay.

[forgottensanity.livejournal.com]

I used to get nosebleeds all the time when I was little, if that's any help. And it would always, always, always happen when I was at someone's birthday party.

It runs in the family. My youngest uncle got nosebleeds so bad that the doctors had to burn the inside of his nose to make it stop.

Anyway. No asthma here, move along, move along, nothing to see.

[anjala.livejournal.com]

Sorry, not on topic, but...ICON LOVE

[forgottensanity.livejournal.com]

Thank you. ^_^

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

I didn't so much, but my sister was prone to them. Although not at birthday parties, as I recall. Perhaps your nose was just doing it to embarrass you.

They can burn the insides of other things to make other kinds of bleeding stop, too. I think this is a valuable innovation and plan to have it done posthaste.

[forgottensanity.livejournal.com]

True, very tempting. However, also sounds very uncomfortable and painful. If you do decide to have it done, let me know, and I will then make all of the appropriate faces just thinking about it. Such as "Geeeh" and "Gaah" and "Eeeiyick" and so forth.

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Awww, thanks, Cat. You're always there for me!

[forgottensanity.livejournal.com]

Of course.